Although pretrial diversion (PTD) was conceived in the late 1940s as a program for dealing with juvenile offenders, it was not implemented in the federal judiciary under its current form until the passage of the Pretrial Services Act pf 1982. Originally, PTD was meant to be an alternative to prosecution for low-level criminal offenders who had identifiable rehabilitative needs. Moreover, an expectation of this program was that participants lack a significant criminal history. Though identifying potential participants in this program and developing an individualized supervision plan aimed at addressing roots cause of the individual's criminal activity, stakeholders attempted to prevent future involvement in criminal behavior. (Introduction paragraph)